I Want My Turn with Dean!
by Kierastarlight
Summary: What would happen if the crew of Voyager discovered the show Supernatural? Would Dean and Sam be just as popular as they are now? Heck yeah! Supernatural becomes the most popular holodeck program on the ship.
1. Chapter 1

When I saw there were no Supernatural/Star Trek Voyager crossovers yet, I wanted to write the first one!

Would love to hear reviews if anyone wants to hear more : )

---

Tom Paris started it.

He was almost always the one who enticed everyone on Voyager to indulge in his latest holodeck fantasy. There was the French bar, the futuristic yet campy and _old _adventures of Captain Proton, and Fairhaven, the charming Irish village.

And then B'Elanna encouraged him to move up to television from the early 21st Century – she was tired of black and white shows, frankly, and replicated a DVD player with a month's worth of rations for his birthday. She had searched the database for popular TV programs from the United States at the time collecting DVD's was popular – and discovered one called Supernatural that apparently was _very_ popular in its day.

So maybe it was B'Elanna who started it after all. She downloaded the entire series and put them on those silver discs that went into the DVD player. But it was Tom, after realizing how much fun the show was, who came up with a holodeck program in which the Voyager crew could interact with Dean and Sam, the two main characters. Tom knew B'Elanna had a little crush on both Dean and Sam, and wasn't even jealous, he thought it was cute. He thought he would surprise her – with a face to face meeting with Dean and Sam Winchester.

Plus – Tom had a lot of fun writing up a case for Dean, Sam and B'Elanna to solve – something with werewolves running rampant – something to get B'Elanna's Klingon blood pumping.

It was great, Tom thought. He could barely hide his smirk as they walked into the holodeck and B'Elanna was asking, "So what is this?"

They were standing on a street in an old – fashioned American city – old fashioned because there were streets with cars on them – and B'Elanna saw a black car pull up next to her.

"Oh – my" B'Elanna said when she first witnessed Dean Winchester looking up at her with a concerned look on his face. He – was – _gorgeous_ up close and personal. Heck, he was gorgeous on the show. But in three dimensions – Tom had even created Dean's expressive eyes just right – must have used the whole stock of DVD's and let the computer take notes to create Dean's character, she thought.

Then Dean's cocky smile was coming through – just as perfectly as his expressive eyes - he was aware that a female had taken notice of him, and couldn't help but inwardly pat himself on the back, just like he would have on the show. Then he spoke.

"Hi, would you happen to know where City hall is?" Dean asked. "It's not downtown like it usually would be."

"Oh – my," B'Elanna said, repeating herself. Dean sounded just like Dean. She could see him breathing, his chest rising and falling – he looked so real. She turned to Tom. "Oh my God Tom, this is incredible!"

Dean smiled again. "I know I'm a sight for sore eyes – thanks – but do you know where city hall is? It's kinda urgent."

B'Elanna suddenly stooped down, realizing she hadn't caught a glimpse of Sam yet. There he was, as cute as ever, smiling and waving and saying hi.

"Ohmigosh, there's Sam too!" B'Elanna nearly bounced with joy. "Dean and Sam – oh honey, you are wonderful!" She grabbed Tom and hugged him.

Dean looked really confused. "Uh – do you know us?" He asked.

"Um, yes," B'Elanna said. "You're famous hunters. Bobby told me about you."

"You know Bobby?"

"Computer, freeze program," B'Elanna said. Once she saw Dean's confused look freeze, she said, "Tell me _exactly_ how to get to this city hall they want to get to."

The computer gave her exact directions, she made sure she could recite them back to Dean, and then said, "Computer, resume program."

B'Elanna opened the backdoor of the car and crawled in, motioning Tom to follow her. "I can take you there," She said. She could hardly believe she was in the Impala with Dean and Sam Winchester. This was going to become her favorite holodeck program, for sure.

--

News travelled fast on Voyager. It wasn't long before practically every female on the ship wanted to schedule holodeck time with Dean and Sam, after hearing what B'Elanna was saying about them in the mess hall. The popularity of the program spread like that Snarnalian flu that hit them a year ago. Except this was _much_, _much_ more pleasant.

The women were spending all their time allotted for holodeck recreation with the Supernatural program, programming either Dean or Sam to be attracted to them – whoever was their favorite Winchester brother. Dean was the most popular one. The holodeck was booked solid. Even Captain Janeway, couldn't use her rank to get any extra sessions with Dean, and boy, did she try.

Nobody got jealous though - because they were just _holodeck_ characters – and Dean (or Sam) could be programmed to forget all the other women whenever they were with someone. When women were waiting their turn, they'd be in the mess hall, comparing their experiences, trying to top everyone else for getting the _best _attention from Dean and Sam.

The men were getting a kick out of the program too. Harry and The Doctor were especially having a lot of fun writing up stories to make adventures for everyone to experience. With Tom writing some of the stories too, everyone had a chance to experience a supernatural mystery where they didn't know what was truly going on till the end.

So, Tom Paris started yet another holodeck program that everyone on the ship wanted to be a part of. The men went in with groups – since they didn't care about winning either Sam or Dean's heart. The women found that one going in at a time wasn't allowing for enough bookings – so they started going into the holodeck in pairs – one woman agreed to Sam, the other for Dean.

Janeway even wondered if this obsession was getting a little unhealthy – but when it came to her turn with Dean on the holodeck – all thoughts about that possibility went out the airlock. Nobody seemed to want to give up this new indulgence, and even Neelix was saying it was boosting ship moral greatly. Janeway wondered what would happen if the holodeck went down. Curses, it would be Red Alert!

--

Everything changed though one day when B'Elanna was saying something to Tom on the side (she was the only woman who went in with a man – Tom didn't want to lose his girlfriend to a holodeck character). She was saying something about when they would get their turn on the holodeck again, and Dean and Sam were in earshot.

Dean blinked. "Holodeck? Did you say holodeck?"

"Yeah, but don't worry about it. Just some code talk for my other job," B'Elanna explained.

"I know what a holodeck is," Dean said. "Are we on a holodeck?"

"Yes," B'Elanna said carefully. "How do you know what a holodeck is?"

"Duh, Star Trek," Dean said. "Okay, quit joking with us. Very funny."

"What is 'Star Trek'?" Tom asked.

"Dean, that might explain what's going on with our case," Sam said. "This one has been more unusual than most. Maybe we really are on a holodeck type environment."

Uh-oh, thought Tom. Sounds like the Doc programmed a really weird one this time. He told the computer to freeze, and then to remove any awareness of the holodeck from the characters. Then resumed.

"Being on a holodeck is too – weird." Dean said. "I mean, Star Trek is in the future, for crying out loud."

Tom felt as if the computer hadn't heard a word he said.

Then the door appeared, and Seven of Nine walked in. "Oh, My God, Sam – it's Seven of Nine! I must be having a really good dream!" Dean exclaimed.

"Me too" Sam said, his jaw falling.

And then Dean turned to Tom and B'Elanna. "I just realized who you guys are. You look just like Tom and B'Elanna on Voyager. Damn, if this is a holodeck, I want to set up some personal time with Seven over there, stat!" He raised his eyebrows several times.

Now B'Elanna and Tom's jaws were falling.


	2. Chapter 2

Tom was convinced it was a joke, had at his and B'Elanna's expense. He thought about trying to explain to Dean that _he _was the holodeck character and couldn't schedule time with Seven of Nine, but realized that would just be playing the Doctor's game. At least he assumed it was the Doctor.

Seven was all business and strolled into the holodeck to tell Tom that he needed to report to sickbay – the Doctor needed a medic and she was on her way to Engineering. Seven looked at Dean curiously for just a moment, noticed his eyes kept straying to her breasts like several of the males on Voyager, and said, "Curious. Are you the 'Dean' that everyone talking about in the mess hall? How do you know of my designation?"

"You're the hot Borg on Star Trek, everyone knows about Seven of Nine," Dean said.

"Hot Borg?" Seven said. "Indeed I am a Borg, but my temperature is normal at 36.8 degrees Celsius. I find it curious that you would think I have an unusually high temperature. And I do not know of any 'Star Trek'. Anyway, I do not have time to schedule a holodeck session with you, Mr. Dean. I prefer to use my time more efficiently." And Seven walked briskly back out the door, with Tom following. He told B'Elanna to go ahead and just enjoy Dean to herself till her time was up.

--

The Doctor was astounded that Tom would even _think _such a thing. "You know how I feel about sentient holodeck citizens, why would I even try to fool you with such a thing?" he asked as he was handing Tom his workpad.

"Okay, okay, you're right, maybe Harry did it. Yeah, I bet it was Harry, the sneak."

"Did you even consider that maybe Dean has become sentient?" the Doctor asked.

"Not every holodeck character that acts sentient is actually sentient," Tom said. "It could be a simple malfunction. Don't jump the gun on this one, Doc."

--

B'Elanna tried to enjoy her holodeck session by trying to discuss the case at hand with Dean and Sam, but all Dean wanted to talk about was the holodeck, what was going on here, and _why_ couldn't he have time on the holodeck with Seven of Nine, if they could just program her a little differently? And Sam was trying to convince Dean that they couldn't possibly be on the holodeck, that the Trickster was probably pulling something on them, and Sam was getting pretty worked up about that – and B'Elanna wasn't even sure who the Trickster was, since they were only at the beginning of Season 2 on the DVD's.

So, disappointed, B'Elanna shut the program down, right in the middle of Sam and Dean having an argument, and went to the console to do a system diagnostic. She set the computer to scan itself for awhile, and then met up with two very disappointed women in the hall.

"Will we get to go in first when the holodeck is fixed?" one of them asked. "It wouldn't be fair if we had to miss our turn altogether."

B'Elanna wasn't in the mood to deal with irate and love-starved crew members right now. "I don't know if anyone will get time with him again – ironically, he seems to want Seven of Nine, and she happens to be the only woman on the ship who doesn't care about Dean Winchester." And then she took off to find Harry.

Harry was at his station on the bridge, and completely denied trying to rig Dean to sound sentient. The Captain was there too, and became concerned. She told B'Elanna that if the system diagnostic didn't change things, she wanted to talk to this sentient Dean firsthand.

Figures, B'Elanna thought. She's finally getting to use her rank and authority to schedule extra time with Dean.

--

It turned out that Janeway's rank wasn't getting her far at all. Sure, she got to go in and have a chat with an irate Dean who was saying he was going to kill the Trickster only after he ripped him several new assholes first, but other than that, Dean wasn't up for running around catching ghosts with his regular entourage of ladies. Sam was being incredibly protective of Dean – if Janeway even stepped close to him, Sam would block her path. "How do I know _you're_ not the Trickster?" Sam said, and was looking like he was ready to strangle her.

She managed to calm them down enough to get their perspective on things – to them, Seven had just popped in, through thin air, and then left again, and B'Elanna and Tom disappeared, and once B'Elanna was gone, Janeway popped right in immediately afterwards.

"So time hasn't passed for you here. It's been a day since B'Elanna left the holodeck," the Captain mused.

Janeway asked Dean what he meant by 'Star Trek'. "You know what?" Dean said, "We're out of here. I'm not falling for this anymore, Trickster." He got into the Impala, and once Sam was inside too, they took off. When Janeway asked the computer to bring the two holodeck characters back to where she could see them, nothing happened.

She figured this warranted a meeting with the senior officers, since the program was so popular. Ideas needed to be exchanged on how to solve this problem. Dean and Sam were getting to be more important to everyone than their morning coffee.

All the usual suggestions were made. An alien could be interfering and speaking to them through Dean and Sam. There could be a huge malfunction with the holodeck system that they weren't aware of yet. Janeway suggested shutting down the entire program and starting from scratch, and the Doctor protested, saying that if Dean and Sam _were_ sentient, shutting them down was just a hasty decision that was typical of humans who didn't have the _slightest _regard for photonic life forms.

"Can your soapbox Doctor, this isn't the time," Janeway said, She rubbed her temple. She doubted this scenario would be this difficult if she didn't have a hologram for a doctor. "But you do have a point. Any other suggestions?"

"We could try and program a case for them where they kill that Trickster they keep talking about," B'Elanna said, "and maybe if it's a malfunction of the holodeck system, that act will convince the computer that the problem is solved, - like maybe there's a virus in the system, and if we can trick it, perhaps play out this Trickster storyline, it will work itself out and who knows, maybe Dean and Sam could go back to normal."

"That's a possibility," Janeway said. "We should try it. But we also need to find a way to meet up with them and find out _how_ they knew about Seven of Nine, and what Star Trek is."

They came up with a plan that the computer would be programmed and that Janeway, B'Elanna, Harry, and Tom would run into them at a local bar to help them out. B'Elanna programmed the Trickster into the holodeck using the DVD with the episode that had introduced him to the show.

They arrived at the bar – The Roadhouse – which had a run-down exterior and an equally shabby interior, but it was one Dean and Sam were familiar with, so B'Elanna had used it. Dean and Sam were already there, sipping beers at the counter looking somewhat sullen. "If it isn't the Star Trek crew," Dean said, looking up at them. "Tom, Dick, Harry – no wait – you're B'Elanna and Janeway. But if you have anything to do with the Trickster, you _are_ dicks, and can go screw yourselves."

"No, Dean, we're here to help you catch the Trickster," Janeway said in her best helpful, diplomatic voice. "We've got a plan. But first, I was really hoping you'd tell us what you mean by 'Star Trek'. Humor me, please. And how did you know who Seven of Nine was? She doesn't participate…" Janeway was about to say "in these holodeck programs, but realized saying "in these hunts with us" would be better.

"Okay, I'll play your game for now," Dean said. "I don't know what is going on here, but we tried to leave town, and the only thing we could do was circle that same town we'd been in, over and over. And then suddenly, the Roadhouse shows up, thank God, cause I was getting sick of the monotony, of the craziness, so we came in here to have a beer and a chat with Ellen. I'll tell you what I mean by Star Trek, but then you'd better tell me what the _hell_ is going here cause this is the most whacked-out, crazy thing I've ever been through."

"Star Trek's a TV show," Sam said. He looked very willing to talk. Like he'd exasperated all his options and was just dying to solve the mystery as much as Janeway was. "You guys are on a TV show called Voyager. There's more than one Star Trek. Like Picard's the captain of one of them."

"Wait – TV – like people used to watch for entertainment on Earth?" B'Elanna said.

"Picard – you know Jean-Luc Picard?" Janeway said, amazed. "What's that show called, Enterprise?"

"No, that's another Star Trek, and that one sucked," Dean said. "Captain Picard was on The Next Generation."

"Tell me who else was on this 'Next Generation'," Janeway said pleasantly.

"Well, there was Data…" Sam said.

"And Troi," Dean interrupted. "Counselor Troi. She was hot." Dean smiled. "Wait a minute, are you guys stuck in that other quadrant, what was it called, Delta, Gamma – I don't know, I mix them up with Deep Space Nine always going through that wormhole…"

"There's a Star Trek TV show called Deep Space Nine?" Janeway asked, confounded again.

"Yeah that's a whole 'nother Star Trek with Kira, and Dax, and Odo – he's really funny," Dean said.

"Oh, my," Janeway said. "I didn't expect this at all." She looked around at her own crew, then back at Dean and Sam. "It seems the tables have been turned on us. We thought we were going to have to go through the difficult hurdle of explaining to you, Dean and Sam, that you two are characters on a TV show called Supernatural, but to find out you were aware of us, and other people in Starfleet that I know about, and claiming that_ we_ are characters are on a TV show, is too much to grasp." She looked up to Tom and Harry for some hope that there was an explanation for this.

"You're telling _us_, that we're on a TV show?" Dean said. He smiled and wagged his finger. "Oh no you don't. This joke is going too far. We aren't characters on a TV show. It's just us, Dean and Sam Winchester."

"Now I'm really thinking someone is really messing with us," Tom said. "A big joke is being had here."

"I've been trying to tell you people, it's gotta be the Trickster," Dean said. "He's capable of doing such a thing. I can't think of what else can. And he's deluding you guys as well into thinking you're real people, and that we're on some TV show."

Janeway smiled faintly. "That's one of our problems. We're convinced that you two are nothing more than holodeck characters," and Janeway explained more to them, about the show B'Elanna found, the DVD's, how Tom programmed the holodeck with Dean and Sam and their hunting adventures.

"That would explain why we can't go anywhere anymore, Dean," Sam said.

"Yeah, but we're real!" Dean said. We have memories! We were able to go anywhere before this all happened. We're not freaking holodeck characters! What is this, a bad dream? If this was a good dream, I would be with Seven of Nine right now."

"Have you guys ever heard of Q?" Harry asked the Winchesters.

"Oh yeah, he's a jerk. Kinda like the Trickster, but nicer," Dean said.

Harry looked at the Captain. "Maybe it's Q. Maybe he's messing with us."

"Yeah, but if it were Q, that would mean Sam and I are the fake ones, and I'm not fake! I'm not a holodeck character!" Dean protested.

The debate about whether or not Dean and Sam were holodeck characters was solved when Harry called for the holodeck door, and neither of the Winchesters could walk through it. Both of them were appalled when they saw their hands and arms disappear – they had tested the waters by thrusting their arms through the doorway. They were relieved that they hadn't dismembered themselves when they pulled back, their arms and hands rematerialized."

"What the?" Dean said.

"We are holodeck characters!" Sam said.

"No, I think we're real, and someone's fooling us." Dean got up. "Come on, everybody. I'm going to show you guys that you_ are _characters on a TV show."


	3. Chapter 3

I got some requests for an update and I'm working on Chapter 4 and hope to post it soon. I rewrote the end of this chapter (3) since I decided I wanted the story to go in another direction, hope that is okay with everyone. The spoiler alert has changed as well.

Spoiler alert: This chapter has some spoilers for one episode in Season 2 of ST: Voyager. But I can't remember the name of the episode. Oh and now a spoiler for the end of Season 5 of Deep Space Nine as well. It also has spoilers for Season 4 of Supernatural.

B'Elanna, Tom, Harry, and Janeway all squeezed into the backseat of the Impala. Dean explained that they were going to a Kmart, which was a store, and hopefully they'd have the DVD set there. Or at least one season of Star Trek: Voyager.

Janeway mused to herself that she missed riding up front with Dean's arm around her shoulder, but what could she do? Things sure were going to change if Dean was sentient. She still couldn't accept in her mind that they, the Voyager crew, could be the ones that were illusions. There had to be some sort of explanation for all this. She was picturing Q, smirking above them at his clever joke.

The Kmart was one of those "big box" type stores that were part of the urban sprawl in late 20th and early 21st century America. It had a large parking lot with lights. Everyone climbed out of the car – gratefully, because it had been tight quarters on the backseat, and went into the store together.

Dean headed straight for the Electronics section. When they arrived there, Tom and B'Elanna were amazed with the selections of DVD's that were on sale. They were getting so excited that Janeway wondered if they were born in the wrong century.

Dean said the TV shows would be listed alphabetically, so he went to the end of the rows and said, "Ah ha! They've got a couple TNG's here and the first two seasons of Voyager. Look!" He picked the boxes up and gave his companions a triumphant smile.

Janeway snatched a box and looked at it, wide-eyed. "There's a picture of Voyager, there on the box!" She turned it over. "There's a picture of me! Oh my word. We need to get this." She grabbed the other box too. "This too. And this other Star Trek. Who's the captain on this again?"

"Captain Picard," Sam said.

Glancing at the box, Janeway said, "Yes – that picture on the box, that's Picard's ship. The Enterprise."

"Now are you guys convinced that Sam and I aren't fake?" Dean asked.

"If you think we're fake, why are you so anxious to convince us that you're not fake?" Harry asked.

"I don't know! I just know that_ I_ am not _fake_, and neither is Sam. Maybe none of us is fake, but that sure leaves us with weird possibilities. I _know_ you guys are on a TV show. I've seen every episode!"

Dean made a point of asking the clerk if there was such a thing as a DVD set of the show Supernatural. A quick check on the computer showed no copies available. Dean asked him to check online too, to see if it even existed.

"There's no such show," the clerk explained after some searching.

"Well, that kind of makes sense," Harry said. "If this is some sort of alternate universe, they wouldn't be living in a place where their lives are TV show. And maybe somehow, in that universe, we _are_ a TV show."

"That could be," Janeway said, mesmerized at the possibility. "Let's get out of here and watch a couple episodes at a hotel. Dean, take us to the Ritz. I can have the computer make sure I have plenty of money to pay for it."

"Sounds good. Can you make it so that Sam and I have plenty of money, period?" Dean asked.

"Let's just take this one step at a time," Janeway said with a sly smile.

They went to the nicest hotel in town, and Janeway paid for a suite with a lounging area and a large screen TV with a DVD player. Dean wanted to watch an episode where Janeway was arguing with another Janeway.

The Voyager crew gasped with astonishment as they realized they were witnessing things that had actually happened to them. Harry winced at his death, everyone winced at newborn Naomi's death. Then Harry wondered why no one else winced at _his_ death.

"You're alive, Harry!" Tom said with a pat on his back.

"So is Naomi!"

"She was a baby, Harry. How dreadful for the viewers of this show to have to see that. I can see now, though, that our lives have certainly been exciting enough to make a TV program."

Dean put in another episode, which was called "Tuvix" and not too long after it started, Janeway said, "Shut it off. I don't want to remember this."

"I bet Tuvok and Neelix would love to see it though!" Tom said.

"I suppose…they're free to come in here and view it if they wish. I think it's interesting how we only saw parts of what happened during that episode, there was so much more going on, but only the most thrilling parts were included for the show," Janeway said.

"People would be put to sleep if we had to see you guys doing boring stuff all the time," Dean pointed out.

"Well, we need to get back to our ship, Dean and Sam. But we'll come back if we have any ideas as to what's going on here."

"Wait!" Dean said. "Are you going to bring in some Supernatural DVD's so Sam and I can see them?

"I can do better than that." B'Elanna said, "Computer, replicate a set of Supernatural, Season 1 DVD's for me please."

A box materialized in B'Elanna's hand that had a striking picture of Dean and Sam on the cover. "Knock yourselves out," B'Elanna said as she handed the box to Dean.

Dean looked a little startled by seeing himself on the cover of the box. But he just thanked B'Elanna and looked at his brother, showing him the box.

The Voyager crew left and started discussing what they thought in the hall, now that Dean and Sam were out of earshot. "Q could have rigged that box set and made our lives look like TV shows," Janeway said. "It would be easy enough for Q to do. And it would make sense that he would take advantage of the fact we got involved with DVD sets, and used that as the butt of his joke."

"What should we do, Captain?" Harry said.

"I think we're going to completely ignore the holodeck for one week," Janeway whispered. "If it's Q, he'll be bored that he's not getting a reaction out of us and show up to gloat or something. B'Elanna, a couple of hours from now, please shut down that holodeck for the time being. If they are sentient, I want to give them a chance to view their DVD's for awhile first. But after that, there is no reason to have them running in circles in that small town. Dean and Sam are hunters. They wouldn't be happy without a case to work on."

A week later, nothing had happened, and Janeway and the rest of the Voyager crew were wondering if Q could be involved after all. As much as Q loved attention, Janeway wasn't so sure anymore. She decided the ship would wait one more week before restarting the holodeck program. Maybe a week hadn't been long enough to weasel Q out.

The second week went by with nothing happening other than a brief delay from an Kitarian trader who had demanded they pull over and renegotiate several days after Voyager had left them at a space station. _Pull over. I'm using terms Sam and Dean would use_, Janeway thought. She thought of how Dean had asked Sam to pull over that one time, because he was certain he'd seen a woman in white standing along the lonely road in the dark.

Her thoughts had wandered often to Dean and Sam during those two weeks. And how much she loved the comarade they shared, even if they bickered often, they cared about each other a great deal, and it showed. She almost felt like part of the family when she hung out with them. That feeling hadn't stopped when she shut off the holodeck.

Did how she felt about the brothers reflect on the question of whether or not they were real, sentient? She didn't think so, she was quite attached to them before they became aware of the holodeck. Also, she had wondered time and again if both Dean and Sam had become sentient, like Moriarity had on the Enterprise with Captain Picard. It was always a possibility, but it wouldn't explain at all how they ended up with a DVD set that had Janeway and the rest of the crew's life as a set of watchable episodes.

She thought of all the unusual things that had happened to human beings ever since space technology had been created. Being cast into the Delta Quadrant as if it were across the room rather than across the galaxy, running into a parallel version of herself and the rest of her crew, were just two of the impossible experiences that had happened to her. Other captains had their fare share of the weird and bizarre. It was par for the course – when you signed up for Starfleet, you signed up for fill-in-the-blank. Anything and everything.

It was time to face the music. Janeway had the holodeck start the program, and she walked onto the parking lot of The Roadhouse.

She entered the bar, hoping Sam and Dean would be there, and even if they weren't, she could conjure them. But they were there in the bar, looking bored.

"Where have you been?" Dean asked. "Two weeks? You leave us in this nightmare for two weeks?"

"We turned the holodeck off for those two weeks! Are you saying you've been aware all this time?"

"Hell yeah that's what I'm saying! You could have at least _checked_ on us to make sure your so-called holodeck was really turned off. You try being stuck in this God forsaken town for two weeks straight!"

"Captain Janeway, can we talk to you outside for a moment?" Sam asked.

Janeway nodded, and the three of them went outside, into the cool dark air and stood under a parking lot lamp.

"Captain Janeway, something really creepy is going on," Sam said.

"I'm aware of that Sam, but please, continue."

"When Dean and I started watching those DVD's of us, it was like some of our memory came back in a snap. We realized that The Roadhouse doesn't exist anymore. It burned to the ground. And Ash in there is supposedly dead! I keep – well Dean and I both keep wondering, is this really a holodeck? Are we real?"

"Well, I'm convinced that I'm real," Dean said. "But I know I'm not in a real place. And I hate this place. I might as well be in hell for the amount of fun I'm having here."

"Yeah, but Dean, what if we never really existed until they started the holodeck program? What if our memories are false? Hell, Zachariah pulled the wool over our eyes for awhile, having us think we worked for that ridiculous company, you in those damn suspenders drinking rice milk or whatever, we had false memories for that and we believed them! Maybe we really do have false memories. Or maybe this is some bizzaro chapter of Chuck's Holy Word. Maybe he went out, got smashed, and wrote this nonsense and it became real!"

"Is Chuck a Trekkie?" Dean asked.

"I don't know!"

"Whoa, you guys are losing me. Who's Zachariah, and who is Chuck?" Janeway asked.

"Zachariah's an angel, and Chuck is a prophet of the Lord." Dean said.

"You're joking, right? I had no idea Supernatural was a religious series."

"I still can't get used to the fact you guys see us as a TV _series_," Dean said. "How can I answer that question for you? I don't see my life as a series!"

"Just like I can't get over the fact that you two see myself and my crew as characters in a series. We're in the same boat, here. This Zachariah, the angel, has he showed up lately?"

"No," Dean said, and he looked up at the sky. "And CASTIEL! WHEREVER YOU ARE!" won't show up either!"

"Another angel," Sam explained.

"Oh my. This is exciting. You two talk to spiritual beings on a regular basis?" Janeway asked.

"Yeah, it's an everyday occurrence, when we're brushing our teeth," Dean said sarcastically.

"Dean, will you cut the sarcasm? She's trying to help us," Sam said.

Dean paced. "Something needs to _happen_ here because I'm afraid I'm going out of my ever-lovin-mind! Did Lucifer put me into a special little hell to keep me from stopping the apocalypse? Cause that's what I'm wondering now."

"Lucifer and the apocalypse, oh my, this _is_ a religious series." Janeway said.

"Look," Dean said. "You say you turned us off for two weeks? Well, we've been up and around the last two weeks. I could report you the boring details of each day of the week if you'd like to know."

"That's okay, Dean, I believe you, and I'm very sorry you were bored those two weeks," Janeway said. She felt determined to try and help them. She was considering options when Tuvok interrupted.

"Captain," Tuvok's voice was coming through from the bridge. "Please report to the bridge immediately."

Janeway saw Dean and Sam's faces sink. She just had to remedy it, even something temporary. Janeway tapped her comm badge. "B'Elanna, program a holodeck Seven of Nine to be, well, _agreeable _to Dean for as long as he wants. Immediately. And don't tell Seven about this. Sam, do you have a preference for a woman in Starfleet?"

Sam thought for a minute, his eyes going back and forth, probably trying to choose between a couple of them, Janeway thought. Sam said, "Dax, Jadzia that is. From Deep Space Nine."

Janeway recalled that she was deceased, at least the Jadzia part, but that didn't matter when it came to a holodeck version. She was sure to be in the computer files. She contacted B'Elanna again as she was rushing to the bridge. She felt some guilt at using Seven and Jadzia for the kind of entertainment Dean had in mind, but was more relieved than anything that at least they wouldn't be quite so bored while she was gone.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Janeway tapped her comm badge one more time on the way to the bridge. "And B'Elanna, _please _try to reprogram the holodeck so that Dean and Sam can leave that town. After you provide them with their companions."

"Understood."

With that little detail out of the way, Janeway was able to focus on the here and now. She swept into the bridge with an urgent pace, wondering if yet another species didn't want her to cross through their sector of space. Just the thought alone was enough to give her a headache. Cloaking technology had never looked so desirable and useful to her as it did on this slow journey home. If only she could run into some cooperative Romulans on the way back, she mused. She noticed the viewscreen was white as she walked down to her command chair. "Tuvok, why isn't the viewscreen on?"

"It _is_ on," Tuvok said. "We've run into an interesting anomaly, Captain," Tuvok said. "I thought you should take a look."

Janeway's eyebrows raised as she settled into her command chair. "What do you mean it's on, Tuvok? It looks like a blank screen to me."

"Indeed." Tuvok said.

"I don't want to play twenty guesses right now, Tuvok," She said, probably a little too harshly. "Tell me what you know so far. Have you sent a probe?"

"I did, Captain, and its findings are quite peculiar. We are in a space of pure light. A cool light – we haven't flown into a star, as we obviously would have been incinerated by now. Yet the intensity of the light cannot even be conveyed accurately on the viewscreen. The computer is displaying muted white, when what is really out there is a light so brilliant it would be very damaging to the eyes if it were…"

"Computer, seal all windows on the ship with emergency armor plating. NOW." Captain Janeway commanded in a panic. She tapped her badge and said, "Doctor. Are there any reports of people being blinded because they were looking out the window in their room?"

Janeway's mind was racing. How many people were in their rooms right now? And what about the mess hall, with all those large windows...She pictured Neelix, staring absently out at the view while he cut virrola roots. Was it too late?

"Captain," Tuvok said, interrupting her thoughts. The doctor showed up at a monitor ready to speak to her as well, with a _whatever do you mean? _look on his face, which made Janeway feel she could let go of her breath.

"A wise precaution," Tuvok said, "but the ship's computer anticipated the dangerous spectrum of light before we flew into it. It dropped the armor on the windows before I even realized what was happening. I was inquiring as to why the windows were sealed when suddenly the ship was enveloped in this light."

"And how did the viewscreen look before we got to it? Could you see ourselves approaching it? Were there any other signs?"

"None, captain. We were as surprised as you were," Tuvok told her. "We can't pinpoint our location either."

The very thought that they could be far, far away from their last location unnerved Janeway. "Have you tried to get out of here at impulse power? Hell, why don't we try Warp 9? If anything would get us out of here, that would."

"We could do that Captain, but I thought you'd want to do some tests while we are still here. Find out what is going on."

"Then have the crew analyze our probe findings. Tuvok. I think, however, we're going to find out what's going on soon enough, whether we want to or not. Please set a course for Warp 9, go at that speed for an hour, and then stop either when the hour is over or we hit ordinary space again. Whatever comes first. I need to know we aren't in a trap. And meet me in my ready room."

Janeway sat at her desk and pulled up the ship's specs, curious as to how the ship knew to put emergency armor over the windows. She didn't recall that feature being programmed into the computers, and she thought she knew Voyager top to bottom.

"What is it, Captain?" Tuvok asked as he was sitting across her. He noted the surprise on her face.

"It wasn't programmed into the computers, just as I thought," Janeway said. "Then how on Earth did the armor drop like it did? Some kind of life form must have interfered with the ship, but whom? And for once their interference was to protect us, not to harm us!"

Janeway turned off her viewscreen. "I'm almost convinced this is related to what's happening to Dean and Sam on the holodeck," Janeway said. "And I'm determined to get to the bottom of this."

"I hear some reservation in your voice, though, Captain," Tuvok noted.

"Tuvok, I guess I'm afraid of what I could find out. About us."

B'Elanna was inwardly grumbling as she programmed Seven and Dax to appear in the holodeck. Not only because she was programming them technically to be whores, but also because she was a little jealous that it wasn't _her _that they wanted to play with on the holodeck. She knew she could show either one of them a _great_ time, and so what if she was actually with Tom, her holodeck self wasn't attached to anyone. Still, she programmed Seven and Dax to appear with _very _pliant attitudes. Somehow, programming Seven to be a brainless, agreeable bimbo gave her some satisfaction.

Dean was sitting at the bar of the Roadhouse as usual when Seven of Nine suddenly walked into the bar. B'Elanna had the sense to keep her in that nice skin-tight suit of hers, he thought. Or maybe she didn't put much thought into it, but hey, that was a good thing. Dean's heart skipped a beat at the thought of spending the night with Seven of Nine, so what if she wasn't real, as long as it _felt _real?

Dean jumped up and asked Seven to join him at the bar, when Jadzia Dax showed up, looking around. Sam went to her. Dean started wondering if they should head straight to the motel right now, why waste any time? But Sam was in the mood to talk. He had Jadzia right next to him and here he was talking to Dean. Dean wanted to bop him on the head for his stupidity.

"Dean, I've been thinking," Sam said. "This could all be Zachariah or some other angel's doing. I mean, it was only recently we remembered that we found out they made a whole series of books about our lives. Now that I think of it, it wouldn't surprise me that they made a TV show too. Maybe in the future, we are also a TV series."

"Yeah, to a bunch of _fictional _characters who are no more than part of a TV show themselves? It doesn't make any sense. Sam, let's not talk about this now, Seven of Nine just showed up and I'm dying to show her a good time. We've talked this whole miserable situation to death already. Take Dax and we'll get separate motel rooms somewhere."

Dean looked at Seven and admired her curves more thoroughly. "Resistance won't be a problem this time, Seven!" Dean said. "Assimilate me ALL you want," he said, not able to resist a little Borg joke.

"Resistance against the Borg was always futile," Seven commented.

"I don't know how _anyone _could resist you in the first place," Dean said.

"I was not this aesthetically pleasing to the male eye when I was Borg," she told him. Then some of B'Elanna's programming kicked in. "I hope I am pleasing to your eye now?" she said with a hopeful look in her eyes.

Dean nodded his head deeply. "Oh, yeah."

Sam rolled his eyes. He and Jadzia still followed Dean out to the car, because a change in scenery would be welcome, and because he could talk to Jadzia without interruptions in a motel room.

Sam ordered the rooms, and told the desk clerk to make sure his room was NOT on the other side of the wall from his brother's.

Sam started the coffee maker in his room and then sat down at a small table with Jadzia, telling her he wanted to talk about science and odd occurrences. He told Jadzia what he knew so far about recent events. She was puzzled, not by the fact that they were supposedly both holodeck characters, but by the thought that _she_ could be a fictional holodeck character.

"It's rather ordinary for Starfleet crew to be represented on the holodeck for routine tests and things. And the characters usually even know they are a simulation of the person. But I would think that the Jadzia I am representing is real person. Why else would there be a holodeck program?"

Sam told her his theory that angels were involved and this was some big cosmic joke. She still struggled with the thought that 'Jadzia' might not be real, but was open to a discussion about it.

"Maybe it's not a joke," Jadzia said. "Let's say what you say is true, you and Dean are real and the Starfleet people are fictional. Maybe they have an agenda and if we can figure out what it is, you and Dean can escape this mess."

"Are you concerned at all that you and Dean could be the fictional characters after all, and Starfleet is real?" she asked.

Sam shook his head. "At this point, no. Hell, I could wake up and it be all a dream and I wouldn't be surprised anymore. I could wake up with purple skin and horns coming out of my head and not be surprised anymore," he joked. Jadzia laughed at his joke.

"You're describing a species in the Gamma Quadrant," she said.

"It figures," Sam said. "Well, let's see if we can figure this out. Dean and I usually figure stuff out together all the time, but without our computers or being able to call Bobby we're rather lost."

Janeway stared at the silver armor covering the windows of her ready room and sighed. It had been a half hour and still no report that they were out of the mysterious space of light. She went back out to the bridge. "Tuvok, report. Is there any sign that we are reaching the edge of normal space again?"

Tuvok examined his controls and monitors. "None, Captain."

"Then Tom, take us out of warp for now. No reason to waste energy, I suppose. I've changed my mind. Let's see we can find out about this place while we are here." She left to join Seven in astronomics.

"Seven, have you seen anything like this before? This type of space or anomaly?"

"No, Captain. For the amount of light we are immersed in, I would normally say we would have to be in the middle of a star. However, that is not possible, for obvious reasons."

"I wonder if we could have flown into a black hole," Janeway mused aloud.

"I do not think that is a possibility, Captain. The intense gravity of a black hole would have alerted the ship's sensors. We would not blindly fly into something that would crush the ship with an incredible force. Surely, you know this Captain?"

Janeway felt a spark of interest. "But what if we accidently flew into a black hole, and all of our theories of what happens inside a black hole aren't true?"

Seven turned away from the computer console and faced Janeway. "Captain, I am forgetting that humans have never explored a black hole before."

"No, it's much too dangerous. We've sent probes that never came back and never returned any data to us. What are you saying, Seven?"

"A small Borg ship was sent into a black hole once. It was a minimal crew, and the Borg do not value individuals as humans do anyway. It was for the sake of gaining knowledge and perhaps even assimilating new species."

Janeway was in awe. "What happened?"

"We lost contact with the ship completely. We tried to retrieve data about the state of the ship or the Borg inside, but it was impossible – however we did find a tiny fleck of debris that matched the metal alloy of our ship. We believed that the ship and Borg were crushed into a piece of metal that was as small and thin as a human fingernail."

"It wasn't just some metal?" Janeway asked.

"No, the debris held the faintest trace of biological matter in it. It was the oddest feeling. When one of us held it in his hand, the entire Borg had the sense of holding one of our ships and a part of ourselves in our hands."

Author's note: I am making up some stuff for the Star Trek universe as I go along, for the sake of the story.


	5. Chapter 5

Janeway gasped. She was immediately flooded with nostalgic memories of sitting on her grandfather's lap in the old cottage in the woods. He would tell her that the entire universe was at the tips of all their fingertips, if only they worked hard enough to reach out and grab their dreams. Desire, he would tell her, could either ruin them or drive them straight into their wildest dreams as long as they followed their hearts.

"_The only thing, Kathryn, in the entire universe that you can't explore, is a black hole. They are the largest mystery in the universe, because we cannot solve them. We've learned to travel across galaxies; we've learned how to travel through time, some people claim to have even solved the mystery of what happens after death. But a black hole? We will never know what is inside a black hole."_ Grandpa loved to peak young Kathryn's curiosity, and they would stare out at the moonlight woods at night, guessing again and again what could be inside a black hole. Janeway felt determined with each story they concocted that _she_ could find a way to explore a black hole. She would find a way, and make her grandfather proud. She saw herself as the heroine of every fantasy they spun together. She was pretty ambitious at the age of five! Or maybe she was just egotistical, Janeway mused. The memory faded and there was Seven of Nine on the bridge standing there matter-of-factly over something that brought her such wonder as a child. It occurred to her that Seven had indeed almost had a universe at her fingertips, and wished very wistfully that her grandfather were here to learn of this exciting news as well.

"You've touched something that was in a black hole, Seven," she said. "Do you have any idea how incredible that is?"

"Incredible or not, it happened. And it wasn't my particular hand that touched the debris. But the collective felt the sensory data as a whole, of course."

Janeway was shaking her head, a reflex from the doubt she felt. Somehow it had to be too good to be true, just like all the dangling carrots they'd run into in their attempt to get home in a flash. The way home looked like it was only a step away, and then to find they were back at square one in the Delta quadrant, putting along like a turtle. Janeway was also hesitant to believe her childhood dream of discovering the secrets of a black hole could be coming true.

"Do you have any idea how much significance this discovery would have on the scientific community of Starfleet? On all of the Federation? What did the Borg do with the debris, anyway?"

"We held it in storage for further research on one of the Borg cubes, but it was destroyed in battle. So was the entire ship, and we did not find that piece of debris again when we scanned for it."

"Well, sit down and tell me more. This is fascinating. Do you have all of the data stored in your memory? I'm not sure how that works with the Borg, especially since you're no longer…"

"Yes, it still is," Seven interrupted. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything! I want everything downloaded to the ship's computers, for one thing. But tell me one thing first. How could the mass of a Borg cube be squeezed into something the size of a fingernail? It's a physical impossibility!"

"From your perspective," Seven said "You're forgetting a black hole has different physical reality than you are used to. None of the laws of physics in this universe apply in a black hole."

"Of course," Janeway said, nodding. "So what is the Borg's explanation on what happened to all the mass that disappeared? Is it still in the black hole?"

"No. We came up with a theory that we called spiritual mass. Which isn't actually spiritual, of course. The Borg do not believe in the spiritual. However, many species we assimilated did, and so we coined the term. Basically, it means the remaining mass exists in a form still in the black hole, unseen to the naked eye. Or we assume that. It's possible if we were really there we'd be able to see it.

/

Sam actually had to gently push Jadiza aside once they were in the motel room. And remind her that he actually wanted to _talk_, even though right before they entered the room she was very willing to talk scientific facts and possibilities.

B'Elanna must have programmed her to be especially pleasing and willing once in the presence of a bed, Sam figured. It was almost comical how her personality changed from a Starfleet Officer to something more akin to a prostitute within seconds. One moment she was talking about some of the stranger things she'd encountered – and Sam figured it was going to be very long list, considering all of the symbiont's experiences in several hosts. The next moment, she was eyeing Sam, many aspects of Sam, and invading his personal space just as easily as Castiel knew how to invade Dean's.

Castiel. It had been awhile since he or Dean had seen the angel, and it was rather strange that he hadn't shown up despite their begging and pleading. Usually at the most, they would ask for the third time and Castiel would interrupt what he was doing to answer their call.

In their severe boredom at the Roadhouse, Dean and Sam had practically chanted Castiel's name for an hour, while playing pool. Until Dean had shouted something about he wasn't going to make his voice hoarse for him again (it was really too late for that). So maybe Dean had called out to Castiel once before for quite a while. Sam knew asking Dean what happened would be futile. Dean was more willing to discuss the sex he'd had with the random woman of the evening (despite Sam begging him not to) that he was to discuss any of the times he'd gone to speak to the angel alone. Sam figured it had to do with prayer being a personal thing.

After silently wishing Castiel would show up and tell them what was wrong, _and _get them out of this dead-end nightmare, Sam tried to get Jadzia talking again.

"Tell me what your favorite drink was on Deep Space Nine," Sam said, "And maybe I can come up with something similar."

"Well, I've always loved a raktichino," Jadzia said. "And I'm still living on Deep Space Nine."

"That's a coffee drink, isn't it?" Sam asked.

Jadzia smiled. "Yes, although I'm sure you won't be able to replicate the very delicate flavor of the soil that was burrowed by Gak right before its mating ritual."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You put _dirt_ in coffee? Well, no, we don't have that, but I do have a coffee maker right here in the room. Let me get it fired up. I'm willing to bet you have a really good chance of it tasting like dirt anyway."

"Thanks, smart aleck," Jadzia said. She was seated in one of the chairs by the window, looking out into the night. "I wonder what's really going on here," she said thoughtfully. Sam was grateful she was back to her old self. Although maybe after a nice long talk, more interesting things could ensue – she was a holodeck character, after all. Right now Sam needed his brain to be stimulated more than any part of his body. Without a new case to work on, listening to Dean go and on got – _boring_. And that was on top of having no change of scenery for weeks, when he was used to constantly being on the go.

"Tell me more about your weirder experiences," Sam told her as he filled the coffee filter with fresh coffee grounds from a packet. "I'm hoping we can figure out what's happening to me and Dean."

Jadzia talked, and it was refreshing. Not just hearing her stories, but hearing a new voice and seeing a new face. Some of what she talked about sounded like an episode he'd seen, and some of it was brand new information. He asked several questions about her previous hosts.

After an hour of mostly listening to stories, Sam wanted to get more practical. He had this sudden fear that something could go wrong and Jadzia would be gone before they'd brainstormed together. In fact, every moment of Sam's life for the past several weeks was all about aching for change, while now he was terrified the change he'd longed for so long was going to happen now. At the worst moment.

Sam caught himself. But wouldn't that be good? Isn't what the goal of talking was, to figure out their dilemma and make a change? If Jadzia disappeared, at least it meant he was moving forward.

Well, he thought wistfully, maybe he could have the best of both. He eyed Jadzia playfully and then looked at the bed. She caught on, fast.

/

Dean couldn't believe Seven of Nine was programmed to _sleep_. Sleep? A Borg? She never slept. She stood in that alcovy thing regenerating for hours. She didn't sleep.

Well, guess I tucker out all the ladies, even Borg ones, Dean thought triumphantly. They'd been at it for several hours, and even Dean himself was a little tired. He decided to shower up first before cuddling up with Seven again.

He whistled in the shower, his mood having been lightened up quite a bit by his trist with Seven. Maybe Janeway would even let him keep her long-term, if they were stuck here for awhile.

Dean frowned. He did not want to be stuck in this hellhole loop of nothing long term, even if he did have a hot babe to mess around with on a regular basis. Variety in life was a very good thing, and Dean was needing a hell of a lot of variety at the moment. He hoped Janeway figured out what was going on, _yesterday_.

But Janeway wasn't real, and Dean and Sam were. This whole mess was getting incredibly confusing. He was counting on fake person to save him.

At this point though, Dean didn't care if Lucifer himself dragged him out of this mess. He just wanted to leave. _Now._

He finished his shower, smelling like Ivory soap. It was a nice evening – in fact every night was a nice evening. There wasn't even a variance in the weather. So, he barely toweled off, put on boxers and climbed back next to Seven, without pulling the bed covering over him. He felt some comfort touching her skin, warm and inviting, and wondered for the fiftieth time how they were able to make a holodeck character feel so life-like.

Staring at the ceiling, he wondered again about the angels. Which he assumed lived upstairs, as in Heaven was up in the sky somewhere. He wondered both if Zachariah and Castiel were dicking around, or where they having trouble as well? Dean thought he knew Cas pretty well, and he was inclined to think Castiel was in just as much trouble as he was.

Dean sighed heavily. He hated being this helpless. He was used to being the one who was saving everyone. And now he was stuck twiddling his thumbs. They couldn't even go out on a fake hunt anymore. They had tried. There was nothing to hunt.

And then he was hearing Captain Janeway's voice. He sat up, and could see one of those holodeck doorways disappear behind her.

"Don't worry, Dean, I made sure you were decent and not otherwise _occupied_, before entering."

"Uh, thanks. Please tell me you have good news."

"I have strange news. We are stuck in a space of light. Light that is harmful to the eyes, but doesn't incinerate us like a sun would. And I wanted to ask you to get Sam soon and see if you could leave this town. I've had B'Elanna reprogram the holodeck. You'll have to send Seven and Jadzia on their merry way, because I'm hoping the more true to life the situation is, the more likely you'll be able to leave. This town, anyway. I think you'll still be stuck on this holodeck, but being able to leave this town would at least be a step in the right direction."

"Well in that case, I'm dying to get out of here. I'll go get Sam. Say, why did you come see me first?" he asked shyly. "I mean, you could have gone to Sam first…"

"He _was _occupied. I just went to the first one that wasn't occupied."

"Oh."

"But I have to admit, you were my favorite, Dean. Don't you remember?"

"Uh, no. But thanks!"

"You don't remember all the hunts we went on together? Just you and me?"

"We did? When was this?"

"Never mind. Go ahead on your drive, and I'll check on you. I need to figure out what's going on with us. That reminds me, does this light we are stuck in remind you of anything? It's like the opposite of that horrible night we were stuck in. A void without stars, for the longest time. Although we haven't traveled that far yet. We did try warp 9 for about an hour, and we're still in the light. That worries me. Warp nine can take you a long ways in an hour."

"You said the light hurts your eyes?" Dean asked. "Yeah, that reminds me of something. I know if we were to look at Castiel's – or any angel's – true form, our eyes would get burned out of the sockets. It happened to a friend of ours. It was very _not_ cool. She was blind for the rest of her short life.

"Really? I mean, that's horrible for your friend, but now I'm wondering if we could be trapped inside a strange new life form. I'm going to go run more tests. Give Sam about another hour, then knock on his door and take off. Without the girls."

Dean nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Captain." He flashed shy smile. "If worse comes to worse, you'll have to come tell me about our hunts together. Even talking about hunting is better than doing nothing. Heck, come tell me about them sometime anyway. I want to know what we ganked together."

Janeway smiled broadly. "It's a date! Hopefully you and Sam will have good news to report to me later. See you then." She whisked herself out the holodeck's door.

Dean wondered if he should even bother with waiting for Sam. He weighed his options – either interrupting Sam now or just trying the drive alone. He didn't want to wait another hour to find out if the reprogramming worked. He decided not interrupting Sam was the best option. Then Sam could enjoy himself for another hour, and if it worked, he'd just drive back and pick Sam up.

Dean told Seven she had to go home, or to her alcove, or back to being photons or whatever – in a nice way - remembering what Janeway had said about making sure the girls were out of the picture. Outside, getting into the Impala, Dean's heart sang at the familiar creak of the old door slamming, and hoped he'd be seeing new places and faces, just like old times. Hell, just like _normal_ times.

He cranked her up, and decided to head east, as that was the shortest route to see the border of town. He braced himself for disappointment, but couldn't let go of the giddy hope that things had finally changed.

Dean was already very close to the outskirts of town with the motel he was staying at. In a matter of five minutes, he was driving past the sign announcing his departure from the city. It was one of those "Thanks for visiting us, please come see us again soon!" type touristy signs, and Dean scowled "_When hell freezes over!" _even though he definitely intended to come back to get Sam.

Here was the big moment. If things hadn't changed, he would find himself pulling right up next to the motel again. If things had changed, he'd see the trees continue to get thicker – that was his guess, anyway.

The anticipation was killing him, and he felt like he was _willing_ things to change. Hell, he was doing that last time he drove this road too, but that was before Janeway said she had B'Elanna reprogram the holodeck.

Dean drove far enough to realize that _it was _different this time. He saw a barn he'd never seen before. Dean let out a shout that was also a laugh, he was so happy. He drove a little farther, enjoying the brand new scenery. But now he wanted to go get Sam so he could see this news. He pulled over at a decent shoulder of the road and felt like turning off the engine for a moment. He stepped outside and took a sniff – and marveled at how _real _the holodeck felt. He could smell the pine trees, could feel the crisp coolness of the air on his skin – it suddenly wasn't a perfectly comfortable temperature anymore, and he reveled in that. He walked on the gravel on the side of the road a little ways, noticing the accurate crunch sound from underneath his feet.

He was about to turn back when a holodeck door appeared right in front of the woods. He wondered if Janeway was back to check on him already. He never would have expected to see who walked out of the opening door just then.

_Castiel_.

Dean stepped back a moment from complete surprise, and then rushed forward to make sure what he was seeing was real. The strain on the angel's face was very real, and Dean went from excitement and giddiness over things apparently going right all the sudden to being stricken with an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Still, Castiel was here. Maybe he had bad news, but at least Dean might be closer to finding out what was going on.

"Hello Dean," Castiel said.

"Cas! Where have you been? It's good to see you! Do you know what's going on here? Why I'm stuck on this holodeck?"

Castiel looked away a moment, thinking. "Yes. I know why you are stuck here. I don't have time to explain much, nor would it be wise."

Castiel looked around at the environment for a moment. "There's been a terrible mistake. A terrible, terrible mistake. And many forces are at play to try correct it, but the matter of which way things should go is the cause of great disagreement…among those who have the ability to correct the mistake."

Dean raised an eyebrow, and Castiel spoke again before Dean could say anything. "You and Sam need to get off this holodeck, now."

"Halleluiah!" Dean cried. "That's what I've been saying all this time! I wish you'd gotten here sooner! I prayed to you over and over, Cas!"

Castiel's voice softened. "I would have been here sooner if I could have, please believe me. And unfortunately, I can't take you back to the world you are used to, not yet. I need the both of you to go on the spaceship. I can make it so you can leave this holodeck. Get Sam right away, and order the computer to make one of these doors appear. Then let the captain of the ship know you'll be able to freely go between the ship and the holodeck. I wouldn't recommend using their transport to visit any planets, even though that might be tempting. Please stay on the ship for now."

"Cas…Sam and I, we aren't…holodeck characters, are we? We're real, aren't we?"

Castiel didn't answer right away. But eventually he nodded. "Of course you're real."

And then he was gone in the typical Castiel style.

AN: Decided to post this chapter even though I really don't know when next one will be up. I'm obviously the slowest updater ever and I really do apologize about that. I'm more of a vidder than a writer. Also have 2 jobs. I did want to mention I'm not absolutely sure what is true about black holes, if they are explorable or not. I'm going on what I learned when I was younger, and I did try research them a little bit, but the material was so way over my head I gave up. So if it's inaccurate, sorry about that, but for the sake of this story I'm keeping it as they cannot be explored for now. Anyway, if you're still reading and enjoying this fic, thanks! This seems to be my most anticipated fic so wanted to give you guys something. And I do have an idea of what Castiel is talking about there at the end of this chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

Dean was a little torn that he wasn't going to get to finally get to go on a nice long drive right away, but he reminded himself there was time for that later.

Sam at his side, Dean ordered the holodeck door to appear. They saw it materialize right in the motel room, and could see a hallway once it opened. "Let's go. Janeway sure will be surprised."

They stepped into the hallway and marveled at the fact that they didn't disappear. They were both holding their breath, so both hunters exhaled with a little chuckle from relief. Dean even pushed at his brother's shoulder a little. "Yep, you're solid!" he told Sam.

They ran into some ensigns who were pulling out phasers as a precaution as soon as they saw Sam and Dean in their strange clothes. Reflexively, Dean was reaching for his weapon as well, until he realized none of his weapons were on him. They must have stayed on the holodeck.

"Don't shoot, we're friendly," Dean said. After a quick explanation, they were all heading to the bridge to meet up with Captain Janeway. Dean talked the ensigns into _not _announcing his arrival beforehand. They really wanted to, but Dean insisted it be a surprise and he even let them scan him briefly to make sure he wasn't any kind of threat.

/

Janeway was glancing at her console frowning. She was reading the findings of several tests the probes had conducted. As far as the probes were concerned, they were reading a giant flashlight out there. Except the light source was not considered 'artificial' as in it was not man-made or alien-made. Any scans set to detect any kind of life forms came back negative. When Janeway asked the computer to analyze what the source of the light was, the computer told her it was unknown. She'd never encountered this before. The ship's computer always knew what the source of light was. It was a starship, so it was programmed to understand a multitude of star types and anomalies they might encounter. The computer didn't even give her a brief explanation of gas combinations that resulted in light when she analyzed a star. The computer kept repeating "Findings inconclusive" and she wanted to beat the computer with a stick if she heard those words one more time. She instructed the computer to continue scanning and analyzing and not to update her anymore unless it discovered something _new._

Feeling frustration, Janeway reminded herself that exploration was always their main mission. If they weren't discovering something new, what was the point of space travel? Yet she was used to having at least a handful of data to work with so she could analyze it, and here they came up with nothing.

She was about to contact Seven of Nine to ask how the downloading of the Borg's data on black holes was going, when the door to the bridge opened, and Dean walked in.

He stood there in awe for a moment, looking all over the place, until his eyes settled on Janeway's. He looked pretty proud of himself, too. Janeway herself had a moment of complete awe, and she'd seen many surprising things as the captain of a starship, but as she reflected later, the sense of wonder she experienced that first moment she saw Dean and Sam on the bridge of her ship, was going to be hard to top. She was too stunned herself to comment immediately. She even had to rub her eyes, and remind herself that she was not on the holodeck right now.

"Dean! Sam!" Janeway rushed over to them, once she registered in her brain what was actually happening. "How on Earth did you get off the holodeck?"

Dean smiled, pleased with his accomplishment. "Cas let us out. I mean, Castiel. He told us to let you know we'll be able to go on the ship or back to the holodeck whenever we want. We just can't beam down to the planets with you guys."

"Castiel? Isn't he the angel you were telling me about? Did he show up on the holodeck?"

"Yes, he made one of those doors open and he walked right onto the holodeck," Dean said.

"Wait," Sam said. "Why would Castiel need the holodeck door? He could have just popped right in."

Dean was agreeing that was a good point, and Janeway was already tapping her comm badge. "Security. Please investigate if anyone unknown was recently on the holodeck and get back to me."

It didn't take long for Tuvok to get back to Janeway. "There is no evidence of an intruder on any of the holodecks, Captain. We will do a full visual sweep shortly to be sure."

"Where did Castiel go?" Janeway asked.

"I don't know. He took off like he always does. He said something important, though. I was going to tell you."

Everyone on the bridge was riveted to Dean and Sam. "He said there had been a terrible mistake. And there was a disagreement between those who have the ability to correct the mistake."

"Do you know who he's referring to?' Janeway asked.

"Probably the angels," Sam said. "I can't imagine who else could be involved in this. Unless it's some powerful demons."

"You know, it's bothering me that Cas was so vague, now that I think of it. I'm starting to wonder if it even is the angels. I think if there was a disagreement between the angels, he'd just say that," Dean interjected.

"Can we go into my ready room and discuss this? So we can sit down together and put our thinking caps on."

Dean glanced again around the bridge. "Can we, uh, get the tour of the bridge, first? I feel like I'm visiting the set of Star Trek!"

That reference reminded Janeway that they still considered herself and her crew as a TV show. Janeway started wondering again if this was some huge, cosmic joke.

Dean and Sam got their tour, and Dean even got to sit in the Captain's chair. "I could get used to this," he said. "Kinda like a buffed up version of my baby!"

"Dean, the Impala is nothing like a spaceship," Sam scolded.

They made their way into the ready room. Dean's eyes lit up when he saw the replicators in the wall. "Sam – look!" Janeway was thinking they reminded her of boys in a toy shop.

"Would you like something to drink?" Janeway offered.

"Yes!" Dean exclaimed. He hesitated for just a moment, then shouted, "Earl Grey, hot!"

A cup materialized, and with a quizzical look on her face, Janeway picked it up and gave it to him. Dean found a chair to sit in, and said, "I'm Captain Picard, now!" Sam rolled his eyes. Dean took a sip and frowned at the cup."He drinks this stuff?"

"Maybe you should just order Dean a beer," Sam suggested.

Janeway laughed and ordered a synthahol beer. She hoped Dean wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But the new drink made Dean make more of a face than the Earl Grey tea. "This is non-alcoholic beer!" Dean shouted.

Janeway frowned, but was laughing before she knew it at Dean's expression. "It's supposed to mock some of the effects of real alcohol. Sorry I had to disappoint."

"You don't look that disappointed!" Dean's exclamation had Janeway laughing harder.

Sam was shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "Dean, how about a soda?" Sam suggested. "Captain Janeway, do they drink soda in the…whatever century this is?"

Janeway nodded. "It's not a popular drink anymore but we do have it programmed into the replicators. Is cola okay?"

Both men nodded and after Janeway's instructions two glasses materialized for her. She handed them each a drink and hoped that the drink was eat least palatable for them.

"Not bad," Dean smiled in approval. "Kind of like Coke."

Janeway smiled back, relieved. Sam also looked content with his drink. She invited them both to sit down at the conference table.

"We've been analyzing the light outside the ship, and we aren't able to determine anything yet," Janeway said. "And now the both of you are out of the holodeck. This day just keeps getting stranger and stranger! And on top of all that, Seven's suddenly just telling me the Borg have explored a black hole, so she's downloading that data to my ship."

"We can't even monitor where we are in the Delta quadrant anymore. I did warp 10 for awhile and to be honest I'm not even sure we've moved an inch. Dean, I'd like you to tell me more about what you were saying it was odd that Castiel was being vague. Is he usually more precise?"

Janeway almost felt silly for a moment asking the question. In her head, Castiel the angel was a fictional character and somehow the holodecks had bled onto their real life on the ship, but something about what Dean had said felt incredibly important. Janeway couldn't shake the feeling that Castiel's vagueness was on purpose and had great bearing on their whole situation. As to how she even could be getting this instinct, she was lost. She knew nothing about this Castiel other than what Dean and Sam had told her, but when Dean said something out loud, she just _knew _what he was saying was important.

"Well, just that when Cas talks about the angels and heaven, he's talking about the angels and heaven. I don't know how to explain it," Dean said. "I remember him saying "many forces are at play to correct it, and then he was saying 'among those' that can correct it and it just strikes me as weird how vague he was being."

"I don't even know him, and I feel the same way," Janeway said. Janeway paused, thinking. Dean and Sam sipped their colas. "The way he's saying 'many forces'…I'm inclined to think these forces involve not just beings from your reality, but our reality as well. But _what_ is going on? I still can't believe you two are sitting with me here!"

A thought occurred to Janeway and she stood up, and touched Dean's shoulder. Squeezed it. "You're solid," she marveled. She resisted the urge to squeeze him again. Or pet the very faint stubble on his cheek. She'd touched him on the shoulder briefly on the holodeck before during hunts, but never indulged in her desire to brush the back of her hand against his face. She recalled that on the holodeck, Dean's shoulder felt solid and real just as it should, but with her experience with the Doctor, hologram entities did _not_ feel solid while in real space.

"Dean, may I feel your hand?" She asked, and Dean lifted his hand off his glass. His hand was cool from the icy glass, so she immediately jumped to his other hand. It was warm. She felt his wrist. It had a pulse.

"Dean and Sam, could you both go to sick bay and report to the Doctor? I want him to check you out. You feel as solid as a human, Dean, and I want the Doctor to do a thorough scan. In the meanwhile, I'm going to assemble my senior staff in here for a meeting. You're both invited after the Doctor checks you both out."

The Winchesters stood up. "Show us the way," Sam said.


	7. Chapter 7

The Doctor eyed the Winchesters with great interest. It wasn't too often he witnessed holodeck characters existing off the holodeck. He was eager to scan them and see what factors contributed to them being able to live away the place that projected them to life.

Both men watched with great amusement when the Doctor passed his tricorder over them. "I wish all doctor visits were this easy!" Sam commented.

The finished his scans and read the findings with a puzzled look. "What is it?" asked Dean.

"You're both reading as human," the Doctor said. "I expected you to be made of photons, like myself…but you're both very human. Not only that, you're clearly not from this century, not even close. You both have evidence of carbon monoxide in your lungs, something people in my century wouldn't have anymore because we don't drive cars. You also have several other types of particle pollution in your lungs, common in the 21st century but almost obscure now. Also, the meals in your stomach are organic, rather than replicated. What did you last eat in the holodeck?"

"Burger, fries, Coke, typical stuff," Dean said.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm not reading that in your stomach. I see a lot of carbohydrates and corn syrup, also some flesh protein, pork I believe…"

"We had pancakes and sausages before we ended up on Voyager," Sam recalled. "But that was a few weeks ago now!"

The Doctor was shaking his head in disbelief. "The only way this is possible is if you time-traveled here from your time, very recently. But this isn't possible. We created you in the holodeck. From a fictional television show. I'll even check the computer right now to see if there is any evidence of your family history on Earth during the time you supposedly lived there." The doctor walked over to his main console and did a brief search. "There is no history of a Sam or Dean Winchester born in Lawrence, Kansas to John and Mary Winchester during the correct time period, nor before that or later. I don't know what to say."

"I told you all we were real," Dean said happily.

Sam didn't share his enthusiasm. He did feel some relief from hearing he was a solid human being, but it was really disconcerting that he was amongst fictional people on a fictional starship in the middle of God Knows Where. So, perhaps he was indeed human, but what did that matter when the diagnosis was coming from someone who wasn't real at all?

Or were they? Sam was glad Dean was happy, and he sure wouldn't want to put both of them back in that infinite loop on the holodeck again. But he felt a deep need to know whether or not these people he was talking to were real. Sam knew ghosts were real, and vampires, and even demons and angels, but he didn't know if these people were real. He didn't know what to believe with the crew of Voyager. He might as well be hanging out with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. And they all thought that he and Dean were the fictional characters.

This cosmic joke was wearing Sam out.

Dean, however, was living in the moment. He was snooping through sickbay, picking up things, touching consoles, until The Doctor harrumphed loudly and made a comment about his sensitive equipment. Dean smiled bashfully and quickly put his hands behind his back, to avoid temptation.

"I'd invite you to train to be one of my sickbay nurses, since you're so captivated by my equipment, Dean, but I really doubt you'll be around long enough to make it worth your effort."

"I don't want to be a nurse, Doc, I just want to look all these futuristic gadgets. Never thought I'd be on the set of Star Trek. This is really cool."

"Dean, you're not on the set of Star Trek. You're actually on Voyager," Sam reminded him, worried that Dean could be offending the Doctor.

"Even better," Dean smiled. "So Doc, are we good and healthy? The Captain wants us in a senior staff meeting."

"Other than I just cleared up some of your arteries, Dean, you are both in good shape. And very much human."

"Um…thanks."

/

Dean and Sam had to ask for directions to the Captain's ready room, they could not remember all the turns in the hallway they'd taken from her office to Sick Bay. Once they entered the room, practically everyone caught their breath and looked at Dean and Sam in awe. Even Janeway. She looked as if she wasn't sure if she was awake or not. She was blinking and subconsciously shaking her head.

Janeway welcomed them back and even got up to show them to their seats. Dean was pleased with himself for being at an important meeting on Voyager, and was cracking his knuckles noisily to express his enthusiasm. Tom Paris smiled, Harry laughed, and Seven of Nine stared at Dean's hands, as if their recent noise was an unexpected shock. Tuvok sat as unemotional as a statue; he and Seven were the only ones that hadn't gasped at Dean and Sam's entrance. Seven looked impatient, like she had some work to do in the astrometrics lab that was more important.

Dean took one look at Seven and Tuvok's stiffness and laughed out loud. Which surprised everyone in the room, even Seven and Tuvok.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, laughing a little at Dean's amusement. It was catching.

"You people. You're just as funny as you are on the show!"

Tom looked around. "But we didn't crack a joke!"

Now Sam was laughing. He was staring at the closed windows, feeling disappointed he couldn't see the stars passing by. As much as he wanted his life to go back to normal, he did want to see the stars speeding past him as he moved through the galaxy, at least once, before he left Voyager.

Janeway called the room to order.

"We need to get everything we know out on the table, so we can figure out how to fix this mess we're in," Janeway said. "The whole mess. Being stuck in a never-ending light with no origin, everyone in this room being a TV character in at least some universe, and how to get Dean and Sam home, since they appear to be very human and very real. I just received the Doctor's findings on my Padd."

"We've got to talk to Cas," Dean said. "He's the only one in direct communication with these – whoever they are. Whatever they are. The ones holding all the cards. Waiting to play their hand."

"Are you referring to Castiel?" Tuvok asked.

"Yeah."

"I'd like to meet this Castiel person. He sounds very interesting and talking to him, even briefly, would be useful in deducting the true nature of our predicament."

"That's exactly what I'm saying. But, he's not a person, he's an angel actually."

"Nevertheless, I would like to meet this entity."

"Dude, are you having an issue with Cas being an angel? He's an angel. And he's for real."

"I have yet to determine Castiel's true nature. However, it is clear you…"

Sam interrupted. "Seriously, you guys, stop. Dean, you're missing the point. Tuvok wants to talk to Cas to get some clues. Just like you do. We all do. And cut him some slack, Dean. I think everyone here in this room is having trouble processing the reality of not only Cas, but me and you."

Janeway smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Sam. You're right. I think we're all having trouble processing the supposed 'fact' that we are all in the room with some fictional characters. I can't help but wonder if you're feeling at all unsettled, Dean? Sam does, but you..you seem confident at the moment."

"Yeah, I know I'm real, doctor proved it, and I trust Cas. He said we're real…" Dean looked down, frowning. "Wait a minute! Cas hesitated. Now I'm not sure if he's not sure. Also, I'm remembering how he said there was a disagreement 'among those" who have the ability to correct the mistake. He paused right before 'among those'. And I don't think it was because he didn't know who they are. I've seen Castiel's confused look. Which is his typical look. This was a 'thinking' look. Like he was thinking of how to describe them, without giving them away."

Janeway perked up. "Which brings us back to, why was Castiel being so vague? I believe he's trying to either protect us, or the beings he speaks of."

"You believe in Cas?" Dean spurted out. "Sorry, I'm…I'm just impressed. You're such a scientific lady. I'm remembering a certain episode…"

"Shut up, Dean," Sam interrupted. "I don't think that episode has happened yet."

Dean squinted. "You already know what I'm talking about?"

"Yes," Sam said sharply.

Janeway stood up, walked over to Sam, and squeezed both of his shoulders. "This makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it, Sam? I know exactly how you feel."

Sam looked behind him, surprised at her gesture of affection. "Yes. It does. I feel like I'm in one of the Trickster's little games. At the same time, I feel like you _are_ real, and we should be more sensitive…I don't know. It's very confusing. All I know is, I want to go home. I want to go back to normal. _And_, I don't want to find out that Dean and I are the fictional ones. Which seems disrespectful to all of you, but that's really what I'm feeling right now."

Janeway squeezed his shoulders tighter, then let go. "Completely understandable. I'm in the same boat." She walked back to her chair. "Which leads me to wonder, is there an ending that involves all of us being just as real as we feel we are? Is that possible? What do you think?" She looked around the room.

There were murmurs from the crew, and nods, and Harry slapped the table and said, "Just about anything is possible, as we've already seen over and over. Don't give up hope, Sam," he said, making eye contact. "I want you to know, I think you're real. I think Dean's real. I think you started out as TV characters we were playing around with, but I think you're just as real as me, now. Something happened to make that change. We need to figure out what."

Dean looked at Harry. "From my perspective, you guys are the ones that became real and were a TV show first…"

"Shut up, Dean. You're stating the obvious. Be a little more sensitive." Sam glared at his brother.

Seven of Nine spoke up. "I for one am not entirely convinced these two men have left the realm of fictional. This could all be a group hallucination on the crew's part. Later we'll all realize a hostile alien used mind control on us. This is the most likely scenario. I think your sentiments for one another are unnecessary, and we are wasting time…I could be in the astrometrics lab coming up with conclusive evidence…"

Dean was staring at Seven, with his mouth slightly open, and Seven stopped speaking for just a moment.

"Dean Winchester. What are you staring at?" Seven inquired.

Realizing what he was doing, Dean shook his head and looked down. "Nothing."

"You were certainly not looking at nothing," Seven retorted.

Incredibly embarrassed, Dean tried looking at other places in the room, avoiding eye contact with anyone. Then he had enough confidence to look at Seven again. "Okay, so I was looking at you, because you look nice. Why are you asking me what I'm looking at when you already know the answer to that?"

"I was confronting you. Because you were looking at specific parts of my anatomy..."

"_Seven_," Janeway spoke harshly. "That's enough." Janeway felt a little red in the face, because she knew exactly why Dean had been staring harder than usual. She felt a little worried about Seven's reaction if she learned the truth, but shook that thought from her mind. Janeway wanted to get this conversation back on track. She wanted to talk ideas, and solutions.

"Seven," Janeway said more calmly now, "You spent some time in the astrometrics lab before you came here. _Did_ you come up with some helpful, conclusive evidence?"

Seven nodded. "Possibly. I was running some tests, and I realized on one test some algorithms matched an unusual anomaly we ran into once, when I was Borg. I'm speaking of the light source outside the ship. I was gathering my findings, and you called the meeting. I still have the computer analyzing in my absence. Would you like me to go check on it, Captain?"

_Why is the ship telling me absolutely nothing on the same kind of scans?_ Janeway wondered. "My scans were inconclusive, Seven, how did you manage to find out something different? And don't get me wrong, I'm glad you've discovered something important. Anything at all about that light, is important."

"Captain, I am able to connect myself to the computer and do some comparison scans with my memories, you, are not," Seven said matter of factly.

"Touché. Well, please tell me what you learned. I'm all ears."

"The Borg ran into something similar, before I was assimilated, but of course I have all of the Borg's memories now, up until the time I left. At the time, the Borg found the light insignificant since there were no life to assimilate."

"That's the Borg for you," Tom Paris threw in.

Dean and Sam laughed. Seven gave them, and Tom, equal glares.

Janeway sighed. "So, Seven, what are you finding out? What is this light?"

"I was not at a point of having an answer. May I head to the lab and check on my work?"

"Certainly," Janeway nodded.

Seven left the room, and Janeway was feeling hopeful that Seven had found something new and different. Janeway reminded herself that sometimes it took patience to discover new things, and just time, to let things flow through their course. She felt her whole body relax. Maybe the answers were right in front of them, just waiting to be discovered. Everyone in the room was being quiet in the few moments after Seven left, and Janeway was going to open up the conversation again, get everyone's wheels turning, when Sam, and then everyone else, looked toward the windows all the sudden.

The armor acting as blinds had lifted, and everyone could see the expanse of space outside, with stars twinkling in every direction.

Janeway laughed, she felt so happy. Harry and Tom laughed. Sam jumped up and looked out the window in awe. Dean followed.

Janeway tapped her comm badge. "Bridge, what is our position?"

"We're in the same coordinates as just before the light consumed us," the bridge officer answered. "We never budged an inch in that light."

"Thank you, Ensign," Janeway said. She tapped her comm badge off. "Even though the ship was clearly moving at warp speeds," she said softly.

"You bet it was moving at warp speeds," B'Elanna spoke up. "I was monitoring the engine the whole time. We should have covered a great deal of space, at warp 10 – dammit, all the energy we used up, for nothing at all. We're no closer to home."

Janeway laughed. "For once, getting home is the furthest thing from my mind. Getting Dean and Sam home are my priority."

Harry was staring out the window, as if he hadn't seen the stars for a long time. "I'm just glad we're not stuck in that light anymore. We can gather more dilithium crystals, B'Elanna…"

"Yeah, we'll just stop and pick some up at the dilithium store, when we fly by," B'Elanna muttered.

Janeway was about to interject when the door to her Ready Room opened, and a man with a 21st century coat and a tie walked into the room. His hair was somewhat a mess, and he was just as strikingly handsome as Dean and Sam, in his own way.

"Cas!" Dean and Sam shouted at the same time. "We've been needing to talk to you," Dean added.

Tuvok had stood up, gotten his phaser ready, but put it aside when the Winchester's revealed the man's identity.

"How did you get through the shields?" Tuvok asked pointedly to their guest.

"Your shields are a fabri…Never mind that. I'm an angel. The shields are meaningless to my nature."

"I told you guys," Dean said proudly of his friend and guardian. "He's an angel."

Janeway was staring at this…angel, in awe of the fact that indeed he was able to get through their tight shields, and in awe of how incredibly good looking he was.

And of all the things she could be thinking about right now, she was thinking, why on Earth hadn't Tom and B'Elanna programmed this extraordinary creature into their holodeck adventures? She felt a little cheated. For a moment. A very fleeting moment, because she realized that the way things were going the last few minutes, almost everything they needed to help get them out of their predicament, just landed in their laps.


End file.
